ARTICULATA 2018 33: 73–90 FAUNISTIK Invasive Mantodea species in Europe Christian J. Schwarz & Reinhard Ehrmann Abstract This paper summarizes the current knowledge about invasive praying mantids (Mantodea) in Europe. The continent has been spared invasive mantodeans for a long time, but reports on allochthonous populations increased recently. We differ- entiate between native species increasing their range, true neobiota and single specimens which failed to establish viable populations. The first group is repre- sented by Ameles spallanzania (Rossi, 1792), Mantis religiosa Linnaeus, 1758, Sphodromantis viridis vischeri (Werner, 1933), and Hierodula transcaucasica Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1878. The latter is now established on the Balkan Penin- sula. True neobiota are the Nearctic Brunneria borealis Scudder, 1896 in southern Spain, the afrotropical Miomantis caffra Saussure, 1871 and M. paykullii Stål, 1871 in Portugal, as well as Tenodera sinensis Saussure, 1871 in Germany. Single in- dividuals or oothecae of the following species have also been recorded: Iris orato- ria (Linnaeus, 1758), Hymenopus coronatus (Olivier, 1792), Empusa pennata (Thunberg, 1815), Idolomantis diabolica (Saussure, 1869), Tenodera sinensis Saussure, 1871, Hierodula sp., and Stagmomantis carolina (Johansson, 1763). The immigration pathways and potential risks for the native mantodean fauna are discussed. Zusammenfassung Diese Arbeit fasst die aktuellen Daten über die in Europa invasiv auftretenden Got- tesanbeterinnen (Mantodea) zusammen. Nachdem der Kontinent lange Zeit vor gebietsfremden Arten verschont blieb, häufen sich in letzter Zeit die Nachweise allochthoner Populationen. Wir unterscheiden hierbei zwischen in Europa heimi- schen Arten, die ihr Areal ausdehnen und an Orten auftauchen, an denen diese noch nie vorkamen, eigentlichen Neobiota sowie Einzelindividuen, die keine Po- pulationen etablieren konnten. Zur ersten Gruppe zählen Ameles spallanzania (Rossi, 1792), Mantis religiosa Linnaeus, 1758, Sphodromantis viridis vischeri (Werner, 1933) und Hierodula transcaucasica Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1878. Letz- tere ist mittlerweile auf der Balkanhalbinsel etabliert. Gebietsfremd sind oder wa- ren die nearktische Brunneria borealis Scudder, 1896 in Südspanien, die afrotro- pischen Miomantis caffra Saussure, 1871 und M. paykullii Stål, 1871 in Portugal sowie Tenodera sinensis Saussure, 1871 in Deutschland. Zusätzlich wurden Ein- zelindividuen bzw. Ootheken der folgenden Arten festgestellt: Iris oratoria (Linnae- us, 1758), Hymenopus coronatus (Olivier, 1792), Empusa pennata (Thunberg, 1815), Idolomantis diabolica (Saussure, 1869), Tenodera sinensis Saussure, 1871, Hierodula sp. und Stagmomantis carolina (Johansson, 1763). Die möglichen Einwanderungs- und Besiedlungswege sowie der zu erwartende Einfluss auf die autochthone Mantodeenfauna Europas werden diskutiert. ARTICULATA 33 [30.11.2018] 73 Introduction Invasive species are plant and animal taxa which have established populations outside their natural range with the aid of man. Today, they are the second most important threat to biodiversity after habitat destruction (VITOUSEK et al. 1996, 1997b, MCKINNEY & LOCKWOOD 1999). Various studies corroborate negative im- pacts of invasive species on autochthonous floras and faunas (e.g. VITOUSEK et al. 1996, HOWARTH 1991, CIVEYREL & SIMMBERLOFF 1996, VITOUSEK et al. 1997a, FRITTS & RODDA 1998, BOETTNER et al. 2000, LOWE et al. 2000, MACK et al. 2000, COURCHAMP et al. 2003, CLAVERO & GARCÍA-BERTHOU 2005). However, extensive empirical data are still lacking for the most part, preventing so far a thorough qual- itative and quantitative evaluation of the ecological effects exerted by invasive or- ganisms (PARKER et al. 1999). This is also the case for praying mantids (Mantodea) which are known to have become invasive in the Nearctic (GURNEY 1951, ANDER- SON 2018), Hawaii (HOWARTH & MULL 1992), and New Zealand (RAMSAY 1984), causing negative effects on native mantodeans at least in the latter area (FEA et al. 2013). Europe has long been spared invasive Mantodea species, but since a few years new records on Mantodea species found outside their range have increasingly surfaced. In this paper, we sum up the existing records and discuss the potential impacts. Methods We have screened our substantial literature and correspondence database for publications dealing with new findings of mantodeans on the European territory. As such, we consider continental Europe from the Iberian Peninsula to the Ural and Caucasus, respectively, including the Mediterranean islands, but excluding Macaronesia. In addition, we checked museum collections for unpublished rec- ords. We have considered every species recorded at new European localities out- side its natural range. However, for sake of clarity, we distinguished naturally oc- curring species currently expanding their range from both invasive neobiota and single specimens failing to establish new populations. The former are included be- cause their dispersal, while seemingly natural, is accelerated by man. The list of the latter is certainly not exhaustive, since not every specimen is reported to spe- cialists, and data from countries outside Germany and Switzerland, where a dense information network on Mantodea exists, are often lacking. Institutional abbreviations CBOM collection Matthias Borer, Liestal, Switzerland CSC collection Christian J. Schwarz, Bochum, Germany FAWF Forschungsanstalt für Waldökologie und Forstwirtschaft, Trippstadt, Germany GÖG Gruppe für ökologische Gutachten, Stuttgart, Germany LUBW Landesanstalt für Umwelt, Messungen und Naturschutz Baden-Württemberg, Karlsruhe, Germany MNHN Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France 74 [30.11.2018] ARTICULATA 33 MZUF Natural History Museum of the University of Florence, Zoological Section "La Specola", Florence, Italy NMB Naturhistorisches Museum Basel, Switzerland NME Naturkundemuseum Erfurt, Germany SMNK Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Karlsruhe, Germany SMNS Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart, Germany SDEI Senckenberg Deutsches Entomologisches Institut, Müncheberg, Germany Results Our list contains four species native to Europe which considerably expanded their range, four neobiota, and seven species failing to establish populations. The details are given below. Native species increasing their distributional range Fam. Amelidae Ameles spallanzania (ROSSI, 1792) This Eumediterranean element has recently been found in Southern Tyrol at the towns of Meran and Branzoll (BALLINI & WILHALM 2014). This species has also been recorded from Germany in 2018: • 01.VIII.2018, nymph in Graben-Neudorf (Baden-Württemberg) (S. Fallnich, pers. comm.). • 30.IX.2018, adult male, Albertshofen, Lower Frankonia (Bavaria) (leg. M. Thomas, CSC). • 13.X.2018, two males and two females (Fig. 1) in Graben-Neudorf (Baden-Würt- temberg) (one of the specimens probably identical with the nymph found on August 1, S. Fallnich pers. comm.). Whether the Graben-Neudorf population survives the upcoming winter remains to be seen. Fam. Mantidae Mantis religiosa religiosa LINNAEUS, 1758 While native to the area, the European Mantis is increasingly expanding its range northward, having lately crossed 58° N in parts of Russia (BOLSHAKOV et al. 2010). It has recently colonized southern Latvia (around Daugavpils, about 55° N, PUPIŅŠ et al. 2012), and also expanded its range in Central European countries where it was rare before (EHRMANN 2011b, EHRMANN & REINHARDT 2011, SCHWARZ et al. 2017, ZIELIŃSKI et al. 2018). Outside the Old World it has been accidentally intro- duced to North America (SLINGERLAND 1900, BERG et al. 2011), where it suc- ceeded in colonizing major parts of western and northeastern USA, and southern Canada (ANDERSON 2018). ARTICULATA 33 [30.11.2018] 75 Sphodromantis viridis vischeri (WERNER, 1933) The westernmost subspecies of this southern Mediterranean mantis (ROY 2010) was initially restricted to the Spanish province of Andalucía around the cities of Malaga, Cadiz and Seville (BOLÍVAR 1897, KALTENBACH 1963). Since about 20 years, however, it is expanding its range westward towards Portugal (MARABUTO et al. 2014) and northeastward towards Barcelona (CJS & RE pers. obs.). It has also colonized the Balearic Islands (CANYELLES & ALOMAR 2006) and Sardinia (RUZZANTE & LEO 2012, BATTISTON et al. 2017). We can add the following un- published records: • Cala Ratjada, NE Mallorca, 15.IX.2005, leg. R. B. Boczki, juv. female (NMB). • Hotel Es Talajal, Cala D’or/Cala Egos, SE Mallorca, Spain, 14.X.2006, female, photographic record G. Krumm. • Llubi, NE Mallorca, 39.42°N 03.00°E, 07.X.2010, leg. X. Canyelles, male (SMNK, genitalia preparation Roy 4318). • Paguera, Autovia de Poniente (Ma-1) crossing Calle de Pau Casals, SW Mallorca, Spain, X.2010, leg. ootheca M. Wittenhagen (SMNK-12136-12139). • Sa Rapita, Mallorca, Spain, 13 m, 39°21'58.9"N 02°56'49.6"E, 25.VI.2016, leg. J. Zhang, male (CBOM). Hierodula transcaucasica BRUNNER VON WATTENWYL, 1878 The westernmost species of this hyperdiverse Asian genus reaches the European territory in the Caucasus region (KALTENBACH 1963, BATTISTON & MASSA 2008). It remained known exclusively from that region until the species showed up at differ- ent localities on the Balkan Peninsula. The first, long overlooked record seems to be a juvenile male collected between dunes and olive grove in Kalamaki, north of Matala, S Crete, Greece (35°01'27.4" N, 24°45'34.7" E, 10 m) on 08.-12.V.2008 by P. Schnitter (today NMB). However, it took five years